Brian Campbell’s return to San Jose and Evgeni Nabokov’s return to the nets

I talked with Campbell after the morning skate and asked him what kind of reception he expected from the crowd at HP Pavilion tonight. His response was pretty much “whatever.”

But he did go on to indicate that what matters more is the reception he got here when he played for the Sharks.

“You know what?,” he said. “They treated me really good when I was here and I thank them for that. They were really enthusiastic and they sold out the building. They want to win here. It was good like that.”

Campbell and the Blackhawks arrived in San Jose late Tuesday afternoon, and he ended up going to — no surprise here — Joe Thornton’s house for dinner. The two, of course, were childhood friends in Ontario and Campbell lived at Thornton’s house during his time with the Sharks.

“I had a little dinner at Joe’s house last night. It was good to see him and my old bedroom. We had a blast,” Campbell said. “It was a nice dinner and it brings back a lot of good memories.”

We didn’t get into his decision to leave San Jose as a free agent and sign with Chicago. We had talked about that when the Sharks and Blackhawks played at the United Center on Nov. 16 — yes, geography was a factor; no, he didn’t want to go into whatever personal matters led to his decision to play closer to his family home in Ontario — so I didn’t see the need to bring it up once again.

Anyway, it’s a staple of every player’s return to a bulding in which he once played, but Campbell, too, said he made a wrong turn this morning.

“I was walking in today and I went the wrong way,” he said. “I was going left and I said this looks familiar – maybe too familiar – so I went back the other way and found the visiting locker room.”

By the way, I’m not sure what to expect from the crowd tonight, either. Things have gone so well for the Sharks so far and Boyle has been such a contributor that I’m not sure how many people will hold a grudge. We’ll see soon enough.

********Evgeni Nabokov is back in goal tonight after missing seven games with a lower body injury (I’m still thinking it was the left knee)and Sharks Coach Todd McLellan used the occasion to praise back-up Brian Boucher and offer an insight or two into the differences between the two goalies.

“Bouche was tremendous,” McLellan said. “He did everything we asked of him and increased the confidence level of us as coaches. I really believed the players had that confidence in him already. He stood his ground.

“As any player over the six or seven games,” McLellan added, “there are probably moments he’d like to have back. but for the most part he was very sharp and did what he had to do.”

McLellan said the Boucher is more physical in communicating with players, using his hands to direct them to spots on the ice; Nabokov is more vocal.

“I don’t know which is better, but they are different that way,” the coach said. “Nabby’s the director of the orchestra. He’s always changing things around, and moving them here and there. He’s intense that way.

“Sometimes the players come back to the bench and wonder if that’s what we want to do as a team. Nabby’s not far off most of the time. He sees things happening before we do as coaches.”

*********Chicago forward/enforcer Adam Burish skipped the morning skate because of a hit he absorbed recently. Blackhawks Coach Joel Quenneville said it Burish’s availability tonight would be a game-time decision, and that he would go with seven defensemen if he had to.

Burish and Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray tangled when the two teams met in Chicago.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.